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'THE MORNING COMETH;" OR, 1 



A DISCOURSE 



ON 



THE DAY OF THE NATIONAL FAST. 



BY 

■ " .a 



■'.5 



■K?" 



PUBLISHED AT THE REQUEST OF THE CONGREGATION. 



PRINTED BY A. JAYNES, FRANKLIN HEAD, -PITTSBURGH 

1841. 









3^S 



TO HIS FELLOW-CITIZENS OF PfTTSB'URGH; 

THIS DISCOURSE 

IS RESPECTFULLY COMMENDED, 

BY THE AUTHOR, 



A DISCOURSE ON 
THE DAY OF THE NATIONAL FAST. 



The burden of Dumah. He calleth to me out of Seir, Watchman, what of the night? 
watchman, what of the night? The watchman said, The morning cometh, and also 
the night: if ye will inquire, inquire ye: return, conje. — Isaiah 21 : 11, 12. 

We are assembled this day in the sanctuary, in accord- 
ance with the recommendation of the chief magistrate of 
our Union, and of the municipal authorities of our city. The 
highest civil functionary of our land has called on the people 
of these United States to humble themselves to-day, before 
Almighty God, in view of his judgments towards us as a 
people, especially in the recent removal of our late Presi- 
dent, the beloved and lamented Gen. Harrison! The cir- 
cumstance of his death while in office, and after being in the 
Presidential chair only a single month, is unparalleled in 
the history of our country! It is so striking and peculiar, as 
to have directed all thinking minds to tlie recognition of 
God's hand in this dispensation. This event has produced, 
it is generally thought, a deeper and wider spread sensation 
in the public mind, than any other, since the death of Gen. 
Washington. Every one is ready to say, a nation was 
never more distinctly spoken to by the God of heaven, than 
ours has been. The people of this church and congregation, 
and city generally, heartily respond to this rccommendatioi), 
as it is attested by this large assembly, and by the solemn as- 
pect and Sabbath stillness of our busy population. On a pre- 
vious occasion, it was mentioned that the appointment of the 
fast was the most favorable omen of good which has occur- 
red for a long time; and if properly responded to by the peo- 
ple, and improved by the ministry, that this will be a day of 
unparalleled influence in the history of our country, and of 
the world. 

Seldom, if ever before, have I been more deeply sensible 
of the dignity and responsibility of the sacred ministry! How 
solemn, yet glorious, the task of directing the meditations of 
a great nation, at a period when none but the most aban- 



doned iSe to think; when the presiding officer of 

the natio.i ./okes us, by appropriate exercises, to inquire 
into the causes of these Divine chastisements ; and when a 
great national calamity, burying party differences, turns the 
hearts of all towards the great Ruler of nations, in the atti- 
tude of submission and supplication! What results may not 
be naturally anticipated from such a day! 

The text selected on this occasion, was suggested as the 
subject of discourse by the ftict, that the mind of our lament- 
ed President, very shortly before his fatal illness, in his 
daily perusal of the Bible, was directed to, and greatly inte- 
rested in, this passage of scripture; a fact which ought to be 
perpetuated as a pleasing evidence that Harrison prized and 
perused the Bible. It is a subject that might well occupy 
the heart of the patriot, who was so soon to die; and also, 
the prayerful consideration of the millions whom his death 
has assembled in the house of God, over the length and 
breadth of the land. 

There is considerable obscurity about the passage, grow- 
ing out of its sententious and enigmatic style, and our igno- 
rance of the precise condition of the country alluded to. Some 
things, however, are intelligible. "Dumah" is the same as 
Idumea or Edom, the land of the children of Esau, situated 
in Arabia Petrae, of which the celebrated Petra, or Sela, 
was the capital, bordering on Palestine. Mount Seir was one 
of the principal places of Idumea; and this locates the scene 
of the prophecy beyond all reasonable doubt. 

The prophet is addressed by one out of Seir: "Watch- 
man, what of the night? Watchman, wliat of the night?" 
It was then and yet the province of the literal watchman, to 
mark off the divisions of the night, and to indicate the ap- 
proach of the morning. Tlie prophets were spiritual watch- 
men, ("for the watchman of Israel was with my God,") 
whose minds and hearts were absorbed in the study of the 
great principles of the Divine administration, and thus were 
blessed with intimate knowledge, and peculiar prescience of 
the Divine proceedings. It was their great prerogative to 
indicate the progress of the Divine plans from period to pe- 
riod, and thereby to judge of the prospects of national de- 
liverance or distress. 

This question may, therefore, be thus understood: What, 
according to your opportunities of knowledge, and your de- 
ductions of Providence, are the purposes of the great Ruler? 
and what are the prospects of the nation? Is the night deep- 



ening, darkening? or is it "tar spe. 

change appear? Tlie reply of tlie piu^iuri ,c 5.,^..! m the 
language of the watchmen: "The morning cometh," — deliv- 
erance is near, — "and also the night;" deliverance, but not 
permanent; prosperity succeeded by adversity — alternation 
of morning and night. He adds, "If ye will inquire, inquire 
ye: return, come;" that is, if you are in earnest in wishing to 
know the truth of the case, make it your diligent study ; go 
away now, and come again, for this subject calls not for 
hasty and cavilling questions, but deep, long continued and 
patient investigation. This appears to be the meaning of this 
short prophecy in its original application. Whether the ques- 
tion coming from the Edomite pertained to his own country, 
or to the country of the prophet ; whether put in the spirit 
of taunting, in the night of Israel's calamity ; or of serious 
inquiry, in reference to his own land, in her night of sorrow, 
we have no means now of deciding. Had we the accurate 
details of history, we might better determine. If it referred 
to Israel, we know that "the morning came," and "also the 
night" — a night long, dark and dreary. Shortly after this, 
came the prosperous reigns of Hezekiah and Josiah. Then 
came the night of the captivity, and subsequent alternations 
of light and darkness, closing in the long night of banish- 
ment and wandering, in which, from age to age, the enemies 
of the children of Abraham, in bitter scorn, and themselves in 
plaintive sorrow, exclaim, "Watchman, what of the night?" 
Does no morning yet dawn on the long night of Israel's des- 
olation? If the question referred to Idumca, we know that 
its "morning" of glory, especially of Petra, its capital, was 
after this period, during the government of the Romans, 
when its monuments of splendor were probably built, and its 
period of commercial greatness occurred. Since then, came 
its night also; its desolations, as described by Burkhardt, 
Laborde, and especially by our own Stephens. A night of 
centuries; a night which, most probably, is to have no morn- 
ing, rests on Dumah and Petra. Though "she dwelt in the 
clefts of the rocks, exalted herself as an eagle, and set her 
nest among the stars, yet she was brought down." Now 
"there is none inhabitant in Edom" — "none passeth through" 
Petra, and none crieth out of Mount Seir, "Watchman, what 
of the night?" 

The principle of this passage, however, is independent of 
these historical illustrations. With this we are specially 
concerned on the present occasion. 



/" 



\ 



In a sense, the rulers of the land are its watchmen. 

If the true nieaning of this prophecy glimmered on the mind 
of our late President, well might he feel its mysterious voice 
addressing him, as he gained the highest point of human ele- 
vation, "Watchman, what of the night?" In his case, how 
rapidly did -'the night" of death follow "the morning" of in- 
auguration. "His sun went down wliile it was yet noon ;" 
and the day of our national rejoicings closed suddenly in a 
night of universal lamentation. 

But, as we have intimated, the ministers of the sanctuary 
are, in the highest sense, watchmen, as the prophets were of 
old. They are placed in the watch-tower to study, in se- 
renity, and elevation above the world, the mind of God, and 
the great principles of his administration over men and na- 
tions, as given in his word and elucidated by his providence, 
and by the teachings of the spirit of wisdom and revelation. 
After discovering the mind of God, as his servants and 
ambassadors to whom his secrets and covenant are made 
known, they must give solemnly their views of the progress 
of his plans, and of the prospects of nations. On such occa- 
sions as these, in the night of national calamity and general 
humiliation, they may consider themselves as addressed by 
the people in the question of the text, — "Watchman, what of 
the night?" As if it were said, what do your advantages and 
opportunities of study and reflection lead you to conclude of 
the nation's condition and prospects? How do things look 
from the watch-tower, where God and tiie church have plac- 
ed you? To these questions, tiie spiritual watchman should 
try to return honest, scriptural and satisfactory answers, as he 
shall give account to Him who has made him, in a solemn 
sense, his oracle and interpreter. This is our present busi- 
ness. "If ye will inquire, inquire ye: return, come." Let 
us investigate, patiently and prayerfully, this interesting 
problem. 

We shall first dwell on the flict that we are "in the night;" 
second, endeavour to trace the procuring causes of our ca- 
lamity; and third, give some reasons for believing that "the 
morning cometh, and also the night;" that prosperous times, 
though with alternations, may be expected — alternate night 
and morning — till that day cometh, when at "evening time it 
shall be light," and the nights of earthly and national ca- 
lamity lose themselves in the day of unclouded, uninterrupt- 
ed, universal millennial glory. 



1st. As a nation, we are in the night; a period of national 
tribulation and calamity. This is obviously the meaning of 
this figurative expression. And it will be readily acknow- 
ledged on all sides, that this is our state as a nation. It 
needs no demonstration. It is assumed in the recommenda- 
tion of the President, and is made the justifying cause of 
this day of national humiliation. With the United States it 
is, in the striking language of the prophet, "a day of dark- 
ness and of gloominess ; a day of clouds of the thick dark- 
ness, as the morning spreads upon the mountains." A day 
of rebuke, and of the Lord's controversy. The mourning 
garb of this pulpit well befits and symbolizes our condition 
as a people. For nearly five years past, this nation has been 
suffering in various ways, and by a great variety of second' 
causes, the most unequal manifestations of Divine displea- 
sure. To mention only a few: We have suffered commer- 
cial embarrassments; we have had long continued pecuniary 
pressures; there has been a fearful diminution of the amount 
and value of business of all kinds; we have been threatened 
with a war with England; and have been involved in a dis- 
graceful and most ruinously expensive war with an insignifi- 
cant tribe of Indians. We have had a most singular state of 
weather. We see almost every where a humiliating depreci- 
ation of State credit. These have continued and increased, 
with occasional intervals, through that whole period. Pros- 
pects of a change have proved delusive. Expedients, of va- 
rious kinds, have only heightened the difficulty. The talents 
and counsel of the nation have been baffled ; while, in the 
meantime, disclosures of unprincipled conduct and talented 
wickedness, have been made, which are literally astounding! 
We have been told by shrewd men, from time to time, that 
things would grow better; that when specie payments were 
resumed — when the next cotton crop was sold — when the 
sub-treasury bill was passed, and above all, when Gen. Har- 
rison was elected, that brighter times would come. Well! the 
banks have resumed and suspended again — crops of cotton 
have been reared and sold — the sub-treasury bill is passed — 
and Gen. Harrison has been elected, and yet "for all this his 
anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still." 
It is still night with the nation! — a night lately deepened im- 
mensely! The last is the most startling and stunning of all 
her visitations. Amidst the distress and embarrassments of 
the land, the eyes and hopes of a very large—indeed almost 



8 

an imexami)letl portion of the land — were turned to Gen. 
Harrison. TJiey conceived that his election, and the intro- 
duction and prevalence of his principles into the administra- 
tion, would be a cure for our troubles. Thej labored and 
toiled with a zeal and energy commensurate with such a be- 
lief—employed every means — strained every nerve- — address- 
ed every principle — moved heaven and earth — produced an 
enthusiasm unexampled in the history of our own, and pro- 
bably of any country, and succeeded! In the climax of this 
tremendous excitement, as by acclamation, he was chosen 
President — he was inaugurated — he began to govern, and in 
one short month, was numbered with the dead! Yes, — at a 
stroke, in the midst of the rejoicings of a nation, and the an- 
ticipation of the future, God took away "the mighty man — 
the man of war — the judge — the prudent and honorable 
man — the counsellor and the eloquent orator" — the head of 
the government — the idol of the nation. To the night of 
previous national calamity, is now added the night of widow- 
hood and bereavement; to previous pressures and perplexi- 
ties, is now added the bitterness of crushed hopes and blast- 
ed expectations; to the previous striking, but neglected visita- 
tions of his hand, is now added this most distinct and intelli- 
gible act of national chastisement, and most unquestionable 
evidence of Divine displeasure. When God's "hand was 
lifted up" in previous afflictions, though it seemed perfectly 
plain to many eyes, and painfully so to many hearts, who 
were conversant with his usual methods, there were n)any 
"who would not see." The great mass of "the people turn- 
ed not to Him that smote them." Instead of this, they re- 
sorted to explanations and mutual criminations. Parties 
were formed to elaborate their respective panaceas, and 
quarrel and complain because they were not tried or ap- 
proved. To many a heart in the land, studied in the analo- 
gies of God's dealings, and devotedly attached to this country 
as the destined instrument of glory to God, and salvation to 
man, the melancholy thought often occurred, "Why should 
she be stricken any more? She will only revolt more and 
more. The whole head is sick, and the whole heart is faint." 
Yet God, whose thoughts and ways are above ours, again, 
and more distinctly than ever, has smitten the whole nation. 
He had a noble victim yet in reserve, whom the nation were 
first to crown with her richest garland, and exalt to her 
highest place of power, before he was stricken of God for 



9 

the sins of the people. This last seems to have been effec- 
tual. Eyes, hitherto bhnded, have now been opened. The 
world, tired of her mistakes, listens at last to the church. 
The press even, confessedly secular, echoes and invites the 
explanations of the pulpit. Reason, baffled and bewildered, 
remands the case, as above her province, to the higher court 
of revelation for settlement. The nation long restive, '-as a 
bullock itnaccustomed to the yoke," — long stout-hearted in 
her pride, and stubborn in her rebellion, though all along 
conscious of something wrong and rotten — touched in her 
tenderest point, and dashed in her darling idol, seems dispo- 
sed af length to "kiss the rod and him that hath appointed 
it," and humble herself ''under the mighty hand of God." 
The American people, after nearly thirty years of visible ne- 
glect of the God of nations, like the bewildered Edomite out 
of Seir, asks tliis day, from the high places of power, and 
over the length and breadth of the land, in the attitude of 
docility, — "Watchman, what of the night?" 

2d. Let us. inquire, what are the procuring causes of this 
night of national calamity? 

This is one of the special objects of this day's services, to 
seek, by prayer, humiliation, and fasting, to know "wherefore 
God contendeth with us;" acknowledging his hand in our 
calamities, and his providence in the night of our tribula- 
lation, to inquire why he hath smitten us. 

This was the question moved by an ancient prophet, in a 
period of similar calamity in ancient Israel: "Who is the 
wise man that may understand tliis: and who is he to whom 
the mouth of the Lord hath spoken, that he may declare it? 
for what the land perishelh, and is burned up like a wilder- 
ness." As applied to us, the question would be, Why, in the 
midst of plenty, are we under such pressures? Why, with 
such a fertile soil, are we so poor? Why, with such vast 
materials and preparation, are we so wretched? Why, after 
such high anticipations, have we been so soon — so suddenly 
and so deeply disappointed? Well may the nation and the 
church, and everv individual of both, ponder these serious 
questions. 

There are some things in this subject that are exceedingly 
plain, whatever else may be difficult. 

1st. It is very plain that we ought not, in this investigation, 
to rest in proximate causes, or in human instrumentality, in 
the errors or mistakes of our leading men. or measures of 



o 



10 

legislation. These are only means by which a higher power 
works. Confusion in counsel— folly in high places — mis- 
taken policy and calculation, are often the instruments God 
selects or procures for ulterior purposes, and the methods of 
inflicting his judicial displeasure. "He often taketh the wise 
in their own craftiness." "He giveth senators wisdom," or 
taketh it away. "He gave Israel" a certain kind of "a king in 
his anger, and took away" another "in his wrath." He per- 
mits learning, pride, ambition and selfishness, to work un- 
controlled their own ends, though to the ruin of a country. 
In all such cases, it is philosophical as it is pious, and it at 
once lifts the soul to a serener atmosphere of thought, to 
realize, "They are the sword, the hand is thine." 

2d. It is very plain, that it is true in reference to nations, 
as it is distinctly asserted of individuals. "He doth not af- 
flict wilhngly," or capriciously. In every calamity of indi- 
viduals, there is, whether we can ascertain it or not, a reason 
for every trial. So we believe in regard to nations, whether 
we are vv^ise enough or not to acknowledge it, there always 
is a sufficient, if not specific cause for national calamities. 

3d. Another thing is plain, that is, that sin is in general the 
procuring cause of calamity to nations. It was to the nation 
the prophet was commanded to say, "Your sins have hid 
my face from you." In answer to the question just cited 
from Jeremiah, the reply of inspiration is, "Because they 
have forsaken my law, which I set before them, and have 
not obeyed my voice, neither walked therein, but have walk- 
ed after the imagination or stubbornness of their own heart." 
This general principle is brought out in almost innumerable 
passages of the ancient prophets, Isaiah testifies explicitly, 
"Because they have cast away the law of the Lord of hosts, 
and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel, therefore, 
is the anger of the Lord kindled against them; and he hath 
stretched forth his hand against them, and hath smitten them. 
Therefore, the grave hath enlarged herself, and opened her 
mouth without measure, and their glory, and their multitude, 
and their pomp, and he that rejoiceth, hath descended into 
it." We are aware that these things w^erc said of and to an- 
cient Israel, which was under a theocracy. But, brethren, 
the writings of the Old Testament, and especially the pro- 
phets, are and were designed to be a record of "the acts and 
constitution" of God's government over nations, to the end of 
time. Here, whether men will "hear or forbear," are written 



11 

the great principles of his administration, wliicli regulate his 
movements, and should be read and revered in all ages. 

"In them is plainest taught and easiest learned, 
What makes a nation happy, and keeps it so; 
What ruins kingdoms, and lays cities flat." 

4th. Another tiling is plain also, that the sins which bring 
the night of calamity upon nations, are those which impli- 
cate by their nature, universahty, or sanction the whole body 
of the people. This, we conceive, constitutes the idea usually 
termed national sins. Of course, we do not mean every in- 
dividual of the nation, but the great mass. They are such 
sins as give no one portion of the land the privilege of cast- 
ing the first stone, or impose on none the monopoly of hea- 
ven's malediction. We conceive that it is not the sins of 
a particular class, or of a particular place — not the sins of 
the government, or of the governed exclusively, but the sins 
of the people in the broadest sense, which bring down the 
displeasure of the King of kings, and procure the night of 
national calamity. We are often exceedingly unfit judges of 
the intrinsic criminality of things, as they appear to the eye 
of heaven, and are, therefore, exceedingly unfit to pronounce 
authoritatively or dogmatically, what specific sins are the 
procuring causes of the wrath of God on nations. 

We are, moreover, generally prone to see the enormity of 
the sins of others, more than our own ; to feel the aggrava- 
tion of those crimes which pertain to man rather than to 
God; that impinge on human comforts or rights, rather 
than God's glory." Hence, in any given case, there will be 
such contrary conclusions, even by seemingly candid minds 
and honest hearts; and hence, unless we fasten on some 
strictly national cause of calamity, we are always prone, on 
such occasions as the present, to "fast for strife and lor 
debate," and "to smite with the fist of wickedness;" to stir 
up the worst passions of our imperfectly sanctified natures ; 
to glorify ourselves by placing the sins of others in the 
strongest light, and to invade the prerogative of God, by 
assuming to ciirect the point of his punitive thunders, or 
curses. 

This will be the pecuhar temptation of this day; and 
unless God gives special grace and wisdom to his authorized 
interpreters — unless they can rise to something of the se- 
renity of his throne, and the comprehensiveness of his vision, 
and see things, in some measure, in the light of his counte- 



nance, who inliabitetli eternity, the valuable purposes of this 
day will be prevented. It will subserve little the great ob- 
jects of this day, to single out some " mere scantlings of the 
sins of the nation," and explain the whole mystery of God's 
dealing with us, on some contracted hypothesis, which our 
pride or passion may have constructed. For in thus ex- 
pressing our abhorrence and indignation at the sins of others, 
we may escape from all contrition or repentance for our own. 

One thing more, we think, is plain: In seeking for the pro- 
curing cause of our calamities, we should fix especially on 
those which involve dishonor and insult to the majesty of 
heaven. In earthly governments, the highest species of 
crime, involving the most condign punishment, is that of 
treason — the '' crimen Jossw majestatis^'''' as the old law 
writers term it — the crime of violated majesty. 

In the government of God, the same principle is true. 
Treason against his governrnent — crimes directed against or 
issuing in violation of his majesty — sins against the throne, 
especially when they become national, of all others, may be 
supposed to involve national calamities! While die govern- 
ment of God does not, any more than any other government, 
overlook or depreciate the transgressions of duties existing 
between subjects and subjects, as such; while some of these 
social crimes may be dark, and deserving of severe retribu- 
tion, yet we naturally look for the special interposition of the 
government, when sins are committed against the sovereign. 
God " will surely visit for these things, and his soul be 
avenged on such a nation as this.". The Old Testament, and 
the history of the Jews, is full of illustrations of this remark. 

With these admitted principles, we might leave the applica- 
tion to the good sense and christian candor of every hearer, 
without any specifications ; and after thus guarding ourselves 
against false and inadequate conceptions, it will not be diffi- 
cult to fix upon some procuring causes of calamities, in 
which all sober and reOecting minds will agree. We do not 
mean, of course, to exhaust the subject, or affirm there are 
no other procuring causes of national calamities. Our aim 
shall be to exemplify in such a manner, that observing minds 
and enlightened consciences may carry these principles 
round the whole circle of their application. And first, we 
may, in accordance with these principles, find in the sin of 
cupidity — ''covetousness, or the love of money" — one of the 
procuring causes of national calamity. 



13 

This is a great sin. " The love of money is the root of 
all evil, which, while some have coveted after, they have 
erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with 
many sorrows." " They that will be rich, fall into tempta- 
tion, and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts 
which drown men in destruction and perdition." It is a 
general sin — the sin, the besetting sin of the nation. Deter- 
mining to be rich; making riches the standard of value and 
excellence, the measure of personal and national prosperity, 
the aim of personal and national plans, and the object of 
personal and national pride, is the disease and disgrace of 
the American people. It is not the sin of one state, or sec- 
tion — of a particular class, or grade. Hasting to be rich, has 
been the universal leprosy. It has assumed, it is true, dif- 
ferent forms in different places. In one section, for example, 
it may have led to oppression, to the sacrifice of the happi- 
ness, the health, and the lives of the poor slaves. In another, 
it has absorbed the whole souls, bodies, and energies of 
men, in the drudgery of business, and shrivelled all their mo- 
ral sensibilities and mental powers, in its insatiable demands. 
In one place, it has assumed the form of wild speculation, 
building paper cities, — expanding the value of real estate, — 
indulging in wild and impracticable schemes, and ruinous 
projects. In others, it has led to defalcations in sacred trusts, 
embezzling entrusted funds, manufacturing fictitious and irre- 
deemable money, gambling in fancy stocks, and battening on 
the miseries and misfortunes of the breaking, or the broken. 
But in essence it has been the same, and in influence it has 
been universal. What portion of this great community can 
cast the first stone here, and say, it is faultless? What state, 
what city, what town, what individual, can plead not guilty, 
on this charge? Can the North defame the South, or the 
East the West, or are all guilty? Covetousness is a crime 
partaking of the nature, and involving the punishment of 
treason against the majesty of heaven. The principle of in- 
spiration is, " covetousness is idolatry ;" and idolatry, what- 
ever be its form, is treason. Treason, in essence and act, is 
placing something in the room of God. Alas! the idol, in 
this case, is as low and base as ever Egypt invented, or the 
children of Ammon or Moab ever worshipped. 

" Mammon! the least erected spirit, that fell 

From heaven; for even in heaven his looks and thoughts 

Were always downward bent, admiring more 

The riches of heaven s pavement, trodden gold, 

Than aught divine or holy, else enjoyed 

In vision beatific."' 



14 

Could any thing be conceived more insulting, than that men 
should consent to become the priests of such an idol, and 
consecrate their immortal energies to attain as much as possi- 
ble, not of the glorious image of the infinitely excellent Je- 
hovah, but of such a contemptible antagonist and rival! Is 
not the glorious majesty of God offended, when character is 
estimated by the amount of wealth possessed, and not of ho- 
liness acquired? Is not truth outraged, and the God of 
truth insulted, when a fool is deemed oracular, or a villain 
is glorified, provided "he is rich and increased in goods?" 
When defalcations, provided they amount to thousands or 
millions; or bank robberies, provided they are splendid, 
are matters of jest to others, and of glory to the villain, 
rather than of shame, involving universal reprobation. God 
forbid, that I should pander for a moment to the accursed 
spirit which would array the poor against the rich ; or that I 
should ever make the pulpit the organ of radical nonsense! 
But, in a calm and sober review of the last year of our coun- 
try's history, do we not find this sin of covetousness or cu- 
pidity — tliis hastening to be rich, and making wealth the 
standard of excellence, as Mons. De Tocqueville has honest- 
ly said, one of the besetting sins of America? Is it not true, 
that "moral and intellectual worth are but lightly esteemed, 
in comparison with the possession of that sordid dross, which 
every brainless upstart, or every corrupt adventurer may ac^ 
quire?" And is it not spiritually treasonable? Is it not one 
of those very sins, which the supreme government of the 
universe is especially called upon to rebuke, or permit its 
honor to be insulted with impunity? Can he — will he suffer 
such idolatry to be unvisited? 

And do we not see our sins in our punishment? Against 
what do the judgments of God seem most distinctly to have 
been pointed? Has it not been against "the love of money?" 
Wiio have suffered most severely in the convulsions that 
have swept over our land? Is it not those who hastened to 
be rich? Where have the pressures been most crushingly 
and ruinously felt? Has it not been where the wild spirit of 
speculation has been most rampant, or where the unholy lust 
of gain has most fully triumphed over the sober reason, or 
outraged all the sensibilities of the heart, and all the most sa- 
cred rights of man? Who have "pierced themselves through 
with many sorrows?" Who have "fallen into many foolish 
and hurtful lusts?" Who are crippled in usefulness — the 
objects of distress to the pious — standing reproaches of the 



15 

visible cliurcli, and the disgrace of the mercantile world? 
Who are likely to "drown their souls in eternal perdition," af- 
ter being tossed tempestuously through this present evil world? 
We answer, those who, in scorn of all rebuke and proud 
consciousness of superior wisdom, resolved to be rich, though 
in the process, conscience, consistency, and the claims of 
God, were all, alike, and at once disregarded. 

Again, another procuring cause of national calamity exists 
in the general desecration of the Sabbath. 

The rememberance of the Sabbath, to keep it holy, is a 
part of the holy and unrepealable code of laws which God 
has given to man. It is a specific claim to a particular por- 
tion of time, for specific purposes, by the Sovereign, who has 
given us all our time. It forms an occasion for the regular 
recognition of God's authority, and the supremacy of his 
government. The Sabbath, in God's dealings with his an- ' 
cient people, was specially designated as a badge of alle- 
giance between the nation and its God, a purpose, which God 
designed it should subserve in all nations wiiich profess the 
christian religion, through all time. 

These general observations, which have often heretofore 
been enlarged upon in our ministrations, we trust will show 
clearly, that there is something more than ordinary in its na- 
ture, and its consequences, in the desecration of the Sabbath 
by a professedly christian nation. This, in the highest sense 
of the term, is treason against God. Of all other sins, this 
is a more specific insult to his majesty; a deliberate viola- 
tion of the oath of allegiance, which every people, who ac- 
knowledge God, are supposed to take. 

On the principles already laid down, this sin may be sup- 
posed necessarily to involve some marked token of the dis- 
pleasure of the Sovereign. And is not this the sin of our 
people — of our rulers — of our private citizens — our consti- 
tuted authorities — our associations? Is it not an all-pervad- 
ing sin, where there is no monopoly of guilt, which is boun- 
ded by no geographical lines — aftecting no separate branches 
of the great brotherhood of transgressors, and involving no 
sectional judgments? Is not our nation guilty of dishonoring 
God, by desecrating his day? Did not the nation place in the 
second ofiice of her gift, which we see by recent facts, might 
have become the first, the very man who argumentatively 
blasphemed the institution, and insulted all who plead for its 
observance, with the energy of faith, and eloquence of sin- 



16 

cere conviction? Again, does not the nation hold out ii 
standing bribe, the emoluments of office, and the gains of 
her contracts, to those who Vt'ill disobey God, by doing the 
work of the Post Office, and of transporting the mail on the 
holy'kSabbath? Has not our national Congress, in the sight 
of heaven, and this whole people, repeatedly transacted busi- 
ness on the Sabbath? And what are all of our lines of in- 
ternal improvements, but so many facilities and temptations 
to Sabbath desecration? What is nearly every rail road car 
and steam boat in our land, but a splendid apparatus, em- 
bracing at once the highest monument of human wisdom, and 
the most exquisitely tempting violation of the rest of God? 
What is bridge stock, turnpike stock, but indirect Sabbath 
desecration? The principle of Sabbath desecration has per- 
vaded almost every department of business, and meets the 
conscientious christian at almost every step of life. Is it any 
wonder we are in the night of calamity, if national sins bring 
national judgments, and if the crime of treason against God 
is the especial procuring cause of Wrath from his hand? 
And have we not here also seen, or may we not see, our sin 
in our punishment? Not with a view of expressing any po- 
litical prejudices or predilections, but as a minister of God, 
and an interpreter of his providence, I put the question, to be 
pondered by all reflecting men. What was the whole ad- 
ministration, of which the individual alluded to, occupied so 
prominent a position, from the few first weeks until its close? 
Was it not a tissue of mortifying perplexities — national hu- 
miliation — distracted counsels — confused policy — and most 
ruinous expenditures? Remembering the first principle as- 
sumed, that men are but means, and administrations but in- 
struments, in the hands of God, what could be a more expli- 
ut rebuke to the whole nation for their proud and perverse 
position in regard to the Sabbath, than this fact? We are 
aware that other explanations are abundant. Politicians im- 
mediately blame all on the party. But this is folly. When 

" God proclaims 
His hot displeasure against foolish men, 
And desolates a nation at a blast, 
Forth steps the spruce philosopher, and tells 
Of homogeneal and discordant springs 
And principles; of causes, how they work 
By necessary laws; their sure effects 
Of action and re-action." 

Thus, in every age, men have contrived to exclude God 
from the government of his own world. 



n 

Again, what is the fact in regard to those splendid State 
improvements, based on the principle of Sabbath desecration, 
from which so much was anticipated? Why have our State 
stocks been depreciated to a mere nominal value in every 
part of Europe? Was it not from the construction of these 
very Sabbath desecrating works? And has not this indeed 
produced our heaviest foreign debts, and thus, to a great ex- 
tent, the whole pecuniary difficulty of our country? Thus 
dirowing us back to Sabbath desecration, as the procuring 
cause of our pressures. What, especially, has been the fact 
with the State improvements of this common^vealth, which 
have been conducted from the beginning, on the principle of 
Sabbath desecration, involving a whole army of engineers, 
conductors, collectors, lock keepers, captains, crews, and 
drivers, in the wholesale violation of this day of sacred rest? 
Instead of yielding any revenue, these vast works, which 
have been so costly, and from which so much was confident- 
ly expected, have sunk annually half a million of dollars to 
the State! This fact is gathered from official sources, and of 
its correctness there can be no doubt. Partisans will ascribe 
this also to political causes, and blame the extravagance of 
this or that State administration. But we are not now con- 
cerned with second causes. We are assured that there is 
One, "higher than the highest." Why were the people of 
Pennsylvania left to choose such rulers, or why did the con- 
gregated wisdom of Pennsylvania commit such blunders? 
And what has been the history of Sabbath desecrating steam 
boats, and steam boat owners in this land, and especially 
within the range of our own observation? Need another 
word be said on that subject? This pulpit gave explicit 
warning, and laid down the law of the Lord plainly, and 
pourtrayed consequences, as derived from heaven, and Pro- 
vidence has not left the interpretation or application dubious 
or difficult to all discerning minds. In regard to this whole 
matter, we are well aware, that the easy plea of necessity 
will be urged. But though men may argue as they will 
about necessity, God has never made any sin necessary. 
England, as commercial surely as we, does not need a Sab- 
bath mail. Scotland, to her immortal honor, "faithful amidst 
the faithless found," does not permit a Sabbath breaking rail 
road from one end of the country to the other; and sooner 
or later God will show the stupidest of our land, that busi- 
ness based on sin will be ruinous to all that embark in it, 
3 



18 

So that, if regard to God's law and honor does not promote 
the observance of the day, he will command other agencies, 
and by means of other principles, will bring about the same 
result. Until the nation learns to regard the Sabbath, and 
State improvements recognize the law of heaven, and indi- 
vidual and associated business comes to be based on giving 
one day in seven to God, our monuments of pride, and means 
of wealth, will be made monuments of our folly, and means 
of our chastisement. 

It is obvious that the principle laid down, might be applied 
in other ways. Wherever we discover a sin which is univer- 
sal in its practice, or becomes so by its sanction, and that is 
specially directed against God's mnjesty, and partakes of the 
nature of treason, there is an additional procuring cause of 
our calamity. But passing these, as some of them can hard- 
ly bo discussed at all without injury, and others would give 
rise to inappropriate contrariety of views- — 

We proceed to mention one other procuring cause of our 
calamities as a nation, especially the last and most afflictive, 
the sudden removal of our lamented chief magistrate — our 
confidence in man, instead of God. God's word pronounces, 
and his providence inflicts a curse on such confidence. The 
purpose of God in our former trials was doubdess to bring 
us to recognize his hand, and acknowledge his chastisement} 
to bring the nation to look to him for relief, by penitence and 
prayer. Instead of this, however, we "went unto physicians." 
The nation's eyes and hopes were turned away from God to 
a man — a great and noble man it is true — one whose char- 
acter endured a fiery ordeal; whose popularity grew as his 
past history was reviewed; who had in a remarkable degree 
the noble principles, and stern integrity, and republican sim- 
plicity of our beloved Washington; one admirably qualified 
for the high station to which he was called, and adorned 
with excellencies adapted to make him the idol of the na- 
tion; all shining now with special and melancholy lustre 
around his grave — but still a man! whose "breath was in his 
nostrils"— and not God. The great mass of the nation put 
their trust in this man for redemption from trouble. Profess- 
ing christians practically forgot their principles under the im- 
pulse of prevalent excitement. Even ministers of the sanc- 
tuary indirecdy gave the glory to the creature, which they 
felt, in soberer moments, was due only to the Creator. The 
nation bewildered, perplexed and intoxicated, committed the 



19 

^in of treason against God, and that too at a time when his 
hand had been so signally stretched out to scourge them. 
You remember well how it was. Every thing was to be 
rectified — the heavens were to smile — the earth to be fruit- 
ful — commerce to revive, and all the land be made glad, 
when this event took place. All evils were to be cured by 
the election of Harrison. This was a sin — a general sin — 
a sin against the honor and glory of God — the sovereign 
and source of national and persona! prosperity and happi- 
ness. We can see it now. In the sober light, or rather 
darkness, which Providence has brought over this nation, 
the whole case appears distressingly clear to every thought- 
ful mind. This nation provoked God by trusting in man, 
and deeply, decisively, darkly has it been punished. Our 
sin here, more clearly if possible than any where else, is seen 
in our punishment. Our confidence in man has been so 
strikingly taught in this blow, that scarcely any one now can 
look back without wondering that he should ever have been 
so far carried astray. Especially, christians feel astonished 
that they could have so far forgotten the first principles of 
Christianity — the very elements of God's administration, as 
to have helped to swell that tide of enthusiastic confidence 
in an arm of flesh, which is so offensive to God, and so sure 
to incur his frown. How few can plead guiltless? North, 
South, East and West had their log cabins, and Tippecanoe 
songs, and symbols of hard cider, banners, mass meetings, 
and processions. The sleep of lethargy was broken — the 
dignity of rank forgotten — old age shook its crutches, and 
infancy lisped the language of idolatry. God has distinctly 
rebuked this sin. The death of Gen. Harrison has been 
thus interpreted, not only by the spiritual watchmen, but i!ie 
editorial corps of the land generally. It has been rendered 
the occasion of infusing into the public mind a great amount 
of sound religious truth, and of engraving in many hearts 
deeply, and we trust indelibly, a sense of the great tolly and 
danger of confidence in princes, and the duty and necessity 
of trusting only in God. If this result is subserved, good 
may indeed be brought out of evil, and his death may do 
more than ever his life would have done, for his country. 
This may be, and we trust it is, the design of Providence. 
If so, who can regard this smgular event, hitherto unexam- 
pled in our land, with indifference, or refrain from laying it to 
heart? No! illustrious man, "it will be long," in the language 
of the Rev, Robert Hall, somewhat modified, "ere thy name 



•20 

is mentioned by Americans, witliout tears. Remote poste- 
rity, as they peruse this melancholy page of our history, will 
'lay it to heart,' and will be tempted to ask, if no milder ex- 
pedient than this could suffice to correct our folly, and make 
us mindful of our duty. They will look back witii venera- 
tion on the noble victim, destined by the inscrutable wisdom 
of Providence to warn and edify that people by his death, 
which he was not permitted to the extent of his ambition to 
benefit by his life."* 

Let us lastly and briefly inquire the prospects of this night 
of the nation's calamity. You have gathered from what was 
said in the beginning, that in view of the whole case, we in- 
dulge in cheering prospects. We trust "the morning cometh." 
We cannot enter very fully into this part of the subject; but 
some of our reasons for this impression are the following: In 
the first place, there is great encouragement in the general 
disposition to fulfil the duties imposed by such a period, to 
which, the recommendation of the President has called the 
nation. The fact here assumed, we trust, is not taking loo 
much for granted. The duties of this nation now obvious- 
ly are. to acknowledge tiie hand of God in our calamities; 
to make full and honest confession, and exercise hearty re- 
pentance for the sins which have provoked God's displeasure, 
and to undertake and accomplish a general reformation. In 
this view of the case, we leel especially encouraged by the 
manner and spirit in which the recommendation of the na- 
tional fast-day has been received by ail classes throughout 
the nation — by the tone of the press of all parties, (the echo 
and concentration of jjublic sentiments,) in reference to this 
appointment — by the general absence of all objection or cavil- 
ling in regard to this point. These are healthy symptoms of 
a return of proper moral feeling. Never, since I have been 
able to notice public affairs, have there been more hearty in- 
dications of a general humiliation before God, in view of his 
judgments. Iniquity, though far from ceasing, seems now 
disposed to "hide its head." The lewd tongue of the agrarian 
seems stilled, at least for a season: the foul whispers of infi- 
delity and atheisin seem checked: the theatre is dumb, and 
the fire-king is still, to-night. Even fanaticism, with possibly 
an exception or two, appears to join in the general tone of 
sentiment. There appears to be a disposition to say, "We 
have sinned, and have committed iniquity, and have rebell- 
ed, even by departing from thy precepts, and from thy judg- 

* Sermon on the deatli of" Princess Cliarlolte. 



21 

ments. Oh Lord! to us belongeth confusion of faces; to our 
rulers and our fathers; because we have sinned against thee." 
"In our trouble," we at last seem disposed "to pour out our 
prayers unto him." The atheistic spirit seems rebuked by this 
manifestation, and all the latent piety of the land seem em- 
boldened to speak out. There appears also to be some 
symptoms of turning unto the Lord — some sense of the sin 
and folly of cupidity — some steps towards national reforma- 
tion in regard to the Sabbath mails — and some strong con- 
victions in regard to the sin and folly of putting confidence 
in man. In tbe church, where the true spirit must of course 
originate, and whence it must go forth over the rest of the 
population, the healthy symptoms are distinct and encourag- 
ing. Among our rulers, a return to the principles and prac- 
tices of better days seems rationally, from present appear- 
ances, to be expected. Men in high places have learned, 
or are learning, the vanity of office, and die folly of ambi- 
tion. 

We are not, and need not, be discouraged by the thought, 
that much of this is transient, and even insincere. The his- 
tory of Nineveh is fraught with encouragement to nations, 
who assume the visible attitude of confession and repentance, 
though deficient in thorough views. The fast appointed there, 
amidst God's threatened judgments, was generally observed, 
though we by no means suppose that it was conducted entire- 
ly on right principles. Yet its visible results were great and 
momentous. So we have no doubt God will signally mark 
this act of national humiliation ; for God notices and rewards 
visible recognitions. When we are brought low, he will as- 
suredly help us. The first feeling of many who had mourn- 
ed over the insensibility of the nation, and her increasing 
chastisements, when they heard of this appointment, was, 
"the morning cometfi." That impression has been deepen- 
ed by the manifestations of feeling in various ways since. 

There is every thing in the analogy of God's past dealings, 
and the general tenor of his principles, to encourage us to 
hope great things, from a visible universality in this act of 
national humiliation. He has afliicted, only to humble us; 
to bring us to repentance and confession, and to a recogni- 
tion of his authority, and of our dependance upon him. Pre- 
cisely so far as the nation manifests a disposition to take this 
position, there is reason to believe the morning of her pros- 
perity is approaching. With God it is infinitely easy to drive 
all clouds away. It is because he has hidden his face, that 



•22 

we are troubled. Let him "lift upon us again the light of 
his countenance," and prosperity will smile through all our 
borders, even as the blessed light of the sun, to-day, re-il- 
lumines the creation, long hung with dreary clouds and chill- 
ing vapors. As he doth not afflict willingly, so he never con- 
tinues his afflictions any longer than they are absolutely ne- 
cessary. As soon as we return to him in penitence, he will 
return to us in blessing. Let each of us as individuals, sin- 
cerely humble ourselves — honestly confess our sins — break 
off from them by doing righteousness — shed around us the 
light of a holy and consistent example — and trust and pray 
that the same may be universal. And in proportion as we 
feel the spirit of grace and supplication, the temper of humi- 
liation and confession, and the purpose of thorough reforma- 
tion, we may indulge the hope that "the morning cometh." 

There is great encouragement also in the remarkable hush- 
ing of the violence of party strife in the nation. Tliis, also, 
we conceive to be an assumption fully justified by the facts 
in the case. The mournful event which has specially occa- 
sioned this fast, has greatly contributed to this result. As 
party violence has been one of the instrumental causes of our 
calamity, so its removal would be one of the most hopeful 
symptoms of returning prosperity. By removing the confu- 
sion of our counsels and harmonizing the Babel of our strife, 
God could soon restore our country to her former glory. 
The death of the President is adapted to do this work — to 
calm the fever of political agitation — to turn men's minds to 
points of agreement, rather than of diversity — to make us 
feel ourselves brothers of one great family, and not natural 
enemies to each other. It is eminently adapted to carry 
the thoughts of all, especially of our legislators and leading 
men, from the petty schemes of personal ambition and vanity, 
to that great theatre, where the passions and excitements of 
earth, the noise of its acclamations, the glitter of its honors, 
the hurry of its ambition, and the fever of its strife, have no 
place — to that region, where "there is no more sea." 

What Caiaphas, the high priest, said of the Redeemer, in 
a merely political sense, may be said of this event: "It was 
expedient for the people, that one man die, and the whole 
nation perish not." And we may apply to this event what 
Dr. Chalmers said on an occasion somewhat analogous, (the 
death of the Princess Charlotte, of England.) "It does not 
wear the aspect of an affair of politics at all, but of an affair 
of the heart; and the novel exhibition is now offered, of all 



2^ 

party irritations merging into one common and overwhelm- 
ing sensibility. Oh! how it tends to quiet the agitations of 
every earthly interest and earthly passion, when Death steps 
forward and demonstrates the littleness of them all— when he 
stamps a character of such affecting insignificance on all we 
are contending for — when, as if to make known the greatness 
of his power in the sight of a whole country, he stalks in 
ghastly triumph over the might and grandeur of its most au- 
gust family, and singling out that member of it on whom the 
dearest hopes and the gayest visions of the people were sus- 
pended, he, by one fatal and resisdess blow, sends abroad 
the fame of his victory and his strength throughout the wide 
extent of an afflicted nation." How many in high places 
have been brought to realize (God grant that it may be per- 
manently and usefully) Edmund Burke's remark, on hear- 
ing of the death of a competitor during a canvass: "What 
shadows we are, and what shadows we pursue!" By this 
event, the heart of the American people has been brought 
out. It has shown, that underneath all that is fierce and fac- 
tious in appearance, we are at bottom one people. One great 
national calamity has made our tears flow together, even as 
the scattered and almost alienated children of one father, 
when they came together at his burial. This gives us a 
blessed assurance, that if ever called to the trial, our hearts 
and nerves would all be in blessed unison in any period of 
general danger, or in the prosecution of any object of univer- 
sal interest. Our greatest troubles have arisen, heretofore, 
from distracted counsels. Our wisdom has been neutralized 
by factious opposition ; and our most appalling dangers have 
grown out of the fierce spirit of party, and the force of sec- 
tional interests. If God has calmed into "unity of spirit'' the 
disturbed elements of our land, and quelled, by one mighty 
calamity the greatest foe of our peace and prosperity, well 
may the patriot and the christian, with re-assured confidence 
and thankfulness, exclaim, "The morning cometh." At the 
next session of our national legislature, now to assemble in a 
few weeks, the first fruits of this affliction, and of its con- 
nected blessing, may be seen in the spirit of concihation and 
compromise, of late so rare, and yet unquestionably so indis- 
pensable in the legislation of a country so varied and con- 
flicting in its pursuits. 

Again, there is great encouragement in the reflection, that 
God's ordinary method of preparing for great blessings, is by 
previous trials. This is, unquestionably, true of individuals. 



24 

•'The valley of Achor is the door of hope" to usefulness, hb^ 
nor, and happiness. The giants of glorious renown in the 
history of the world, and especially of the church, were 
schooled in affliction, and trained amidst trials. The youth 
of Washington, and also of Harrison, was not spent in ease 
and luxury, but in rugged duties and disciplinary circum- 
stances. This is God's usual plan with nations, unless their 
judgments are designed to be final and desolating, which we 
trust is not the fact with our land. The past, and continued 
care and culture of God — the fact that we have not been left 
to go on unrebuked in our pride and forgetfulness of Him, is 
to the pious mind, richly fraught with encouragement. As 
the individual christian feels sometimes encouraged by the 
thought, that God does not mean to throw away all the care 
he has expended on him, and his highest hope in sorrow 
sometimes arises from the fact, that these trials are too costly 
to be otherwise than disciplinary, so we may be encouraged 
in regard to nations, especially our own land. Oh! my coun- 
try, may the christian patriot say, thou wast beloved and pre- 
cious in thy wildest career of prosperity; yet thou art doubly 
dear in the night of thy sorrow; for now God dealeth with 
thee as his own child. Because he loveth thee, and designs 
to glorify and beautify thee, therefore, he hath dealt so with 
thee. As in providence, he softens the earth with showers, 
that he may fill it "with the finest of the wheat;" and he 
crushes the flower, to cause its sweetest perfume to be shed 
forth ; so, we trust, he has softened thy heart by sorrow, that 
he may stamp thereon his own image, and has crushed 
thee, that thou mayest give him the sweetest incense of thy 
affections and gratitude. 

The great blessing, of course, in our estimation, bringing 
solid and substantial prosperity to our land, would consist in 
a general effusion of the Holy Spirit, and a general and per- 
vading influence of genuine vital piety over men's hearts and 
lives. Let religion, true vital godliness, as traced in the 
scriptures, as exemplified in primitive times, and as seen oc- 
casionally and temporarily in revivals of religion, come to 
pervade all classes, as a sober, settled principle, grounded in 
the depths of men's souls, and not in the surface of their 
sympathies, influencing their every-day business and deport- 
ment, and carried out in all their relations, and extending 
from the highest in office, to the lowest in society — and how 
soon would our troubles be ended! Let cupidity, with "all 
the lusts of the flesh," be crucified all over the land ; let the 



2d 

genuine standard of excellence and worth become the sole 
passport to honor and office; let christian hunnility, leading 
men, "in honor to prefer one another," instead of incessant 
scramblings and annoying solicitations for office, be ingrained 
into the whole mass of the people, and then the specific evils 
which we deplore, will speedily pass away. There would be 
no motive then to oppression — no opportunity for Sabbath 
breaking — no temptation to defalcation, or personal ambition. 
Our country would be happy and prosperous; "our sons would 
be as plants grown up in their youth ; our daughters, as corner 
stones polished after the similitude of a palace; our garners 
full, affording all manner of stores; our oxen would be strong 
to labor: there would be no breaking in, nor going out, nor 
complaining in our streets." 

For the reason given, we are encouraged to hope that "the 
morning" of this day "cometh;" that "the Spirit will be 
poured out from on high" upon us; that a hitherto unex- 
ampled unction will attend the services of the ministry, 
and the labors of christian men; that the Gospel, embrac- 
ing more and more of the true energy and genius of the 
land, consecrating to its service the highest in office, and 
brightest in talents, inspiring all men with a nobler ambition 
than to "rob tiie serpent of his food, and to indulge a sordid 
lust," will win and conquer, till our nation is ready to gird 
herself for the work of benefiting and blessing the whole 
world. For God empties, and then fills; he humbles, and 
then exalts. It would be unspeakably easy with God, who 
has "the residue of the Spirit," to bring all this to pass. If 
we are ready, it will be done. Let him only say, "let there 
be light," and there will be "light." Only let Pentecostal 
effiisions of the Spirit be granted, and the nation may be 
christianized before the close of the year. We cannot re- 
sist the hope, that this advent of the Spirit draws near, be- 
cause God has been training us for its enjoyment by trials. 
It sometimes seems to the eye of faith, that "the heavens 
are big with rain," the showers will soon descend, the pur- 
poses of God developed, and his heritage thus inimitably en- 
larged through all lands. 

These, brethren, are some of the reasons which lead us 
to hope that "the morning cometh" to our nation, after the 
night of deep and long continued calamity. We do not, in- 
deed, speak confidently or dogmatically, but only "as God 
has dealt to us the measure of faith/' Possibly, too, we are 
4 



2ti 

Miiistakeii in the iacts of the case, and our hopes may too 
much have brightened the data, on which our conclusions 
are founded. Possibly, the nation is not, and will not be 
humbled, and will not repent and "turn from her evil ways." 
"The goodness" of this nation, thougii promising to-day, may 
prove as "the morning cloud that passeth away," and then 
we know the night will continue and deepen upon us. But 
still, our present impressions of the prospects of tlie nation 
are promising. God grant that the voice of this prophecy, 
and the conclusion of this discourse, may soon be a fact, and 
matter of thanksgiving to the American people. 

But, though we believe "the morning cometh," so we be- 
lieve that "the night," also, will doubtless, sooner or later, 
succeed. To say nothing now of other sources of danger, 
the very prosperity we anticipate, if we judge from the past, 
will again, before long, engender the sins, which will make 
the hand of God in our affliction again necessary. Several 
of these alternations have already passed over our young 
land. It seems, alas! as if every generation must learn wis- 
dom by its own experience; for tlie lessons and counsels of 
the past are disregarded. In the wild and reckless period 
preceding our present calamity, many solemn voices were 
heard in the noise of our nation's pride, pleading the lessons 
of the past, but in vain. We can hardly hope for a different 
result hereafter. Our children will hardly believe our story 
of "the night," through which we are now passing, in the day 
of their coming prosperity. They will not be able to see how 
it was possible that the night could come so soon, and be so 
deep and long continued. 

But there is a period even on earth, when these alterna- 
tions are destined to cease. There is a day known unto the 
Lord, not dark and light, but when, "at evening time, it shall 
be light." This is the day of earth's final story — a morning, 
which has no night. The glory and continuance of this day 
will amply compensate for all antecedent alternations. Its 
developments will clear up fully and forever "the mystery of 
God," in the government of the globe. This nation, if she 
"learn righteousness" by God's judgments, may be an honor- 
ed instrument of rolling forward that blessed period; and this 
national fast, properly improved, may have an incalculable 
power on the question of the millenium. To that "morning" 
which "cometh," as surely as God hath spoken, we would 
direct your thoughts amidst all the actual and anticipated al- 
ternations of time. 



Bui, after all, we sliould extend our thoughts farther. 
Earth, and its changes, should remind us of eternity, and en- 
dear to us its deep and untroubled repose. In the night of 
national and personal calamity and sorrow, we should hear 
the voice of inspiration assuring us in a far higher and no- 
bler sense, that "the morning cometh," the morning of im- 
mortal glory, the sun-light of heaven's eternal noon. "There 
is no night there," and '-no more curse, and no more sea, for 
the former things arc done awav." There, we shall need 
fasting and weeping no more, for sorrow and sighing shall 
have fled away forever. Oh! my fellow traveller in the night 
of time, seek to gain that land of eternal light and rest. 

If our lamented President were indeed a christian, (a 
point on which we would speak hopefully, but not positively, 
for the evidences of piety in a President are the same as in a 
peasant) — if he were a christian, as soon as he waked up in 
eternity, all the mists were rolled from the word of God, he 
had so long studied. To his eye now, "how bright the un- 
changing morn appears!" How blessed the exchange of the 
house of the people, the palace of America, for "the building 
of God, the house not made with hands, eternal in the hea- 
vens;" the acclamations of a beloved country, for the wel- 
come of redeemed brethren; the pomp and splendors of the 
Presidency, for "a far more exceeding and eternal weight of 
glory!" 

Let us, friends, fellow citizens, and fellow mourners, en- 
deavor, by penitence, faith in Christ, and hoiy living, to liave 
the night of death usher in to us the morning of eternal life. 
Are you on right and safe grounds assured, that in this sense 
"the morning cometh" to you? Is the work of the day done? 
Remember, "the night cometh in which no man can work;" 
and as it came to Harrison, it may come to you "in such a 
day and such an hour as ye think not." And what would it 
be to any of you, if "the morning" of your country's pros- 
perity should come, and you should fully share in it — -if the 
day of her glory should be bright and protracted from age 
to age — if, for your sins, and iieglect of your Savior, you 
should lie down, at last, in the night of unutterable despair, 
where no "morning cometh," forever and ever, and no an- 
swer breaks the silence of eternal ages to your melancholy 
question — "Watchman, what of the night? watchman, what 
of the night?" 



JJoTE. — The author of the foregoing discourse would shield himself from the impa< 
tation of having manifested a political partisanship in some of his remarks, especially 
on pages 15, 16, not only by a consciousness of being above such a design on such a 
day," but also by the authority of a great name in the eartli, Dr. Chalmers, of Scotland, 
who was, it seems, similarly accused in reference to one of his sermons. 

" I cannot but advert here to a delicate impediment which lies in the way of the 
faithful exercise of the ministerial functions, from the existence of two great political 
parties, which would monopolize between them, all the sentiments and all the services 
of the country. Is it not a very possible thing that tlie line of demarcation between 
these parties, may not coalesce, throughout all ils extent, with the sacred and immu- 
table line of distinction between right and wrong? — and ought not this latter line to 
stand out so clearly and so prominently to the eye of the christian minister, that in the 
act of dealing around him the reproofs and the lessons of Christianity, the former line 
sliould be away from his contemplation altogether? But it is thus that, with. the most 
scrupulous avoidance both of the one and of the other species of paitisanship, he may, 
in the direct and conscientious discharge of the duties of his office, dehver himself in 
such a way as to give a kind of general and corporate offence to one political denomi- 
nation, and what is still more grievous, as to be appropriated by the men of another 
denomination, with whom in their capacity as politicians he desires no fellowship 
whatever, and whose applauses of him in this capacity are in every way most odious 
and insufferable. 

" It appears to us that a christian minister cannot keep himself in the true path of 
consistency at all, without refusing to each of the parties all riglit of appropriation. 
Their line of demarcation is not his line. Their objects are not his objects. He asks 
no patronage from the one — he asks no favor from the other, except that they shall not 
claim kindred with him. He may suffer, at times, from the intolerance of the un- 
worthy underlings . the one party; but never will his sensations of distaste, for the 
whole busmess oi" p>»i"ty politics, become so intense and so painful, as when the ho- 
sannas of the other party threaten to rise around him. 

"We often hear from these parties, of the virtue and the dignity of independence. 
The only way, it appears to us, in wiiich a man can sustain the true and complete char- 
acter of independence, is to be independent of both. Ho who cares for neither of fhenrf, 
is the only independent man; and to him only, belongs the privilege of crossing and re- 
crossing their factious line of demarcation, just as he feels himself impelled by the high, 
paramount, and subordinating principles of the Christianity wliich he professes. 

" But turning away from tlie beggarly elements of such a competition as this, let us 
remark, that on the one hand, a religious administration will never take offence at a 
minister who renders a pertinent reproof to any set of men, even though they should 
happen to be their own agents or their own underlings; and that, on the other hand, a 
minister who is actuated by tiie true spirit of his office, will never so pervert or so 
prostitute iiis functions, as to descend to the humble arena of partisanship. He is the 
faithful steward of such things as are profitable for reproof, and for doctrine, and for 
correction, and for instruction in righteousness. His single object witli the men who 
are within reach of his heating, is, that they should come to the knowledge of the 
truth and be saved. In the fulfilment of this object, he is not the servant of any ad- 
ministration — though he certainly renders such a service to the state as will facilitate 
the work of governing to all administrations — as will bring a mighty train of civil and 
temporal blessings along with it — and in particular, as will diffuse over the whole 
sphere of his influence, a loyalty as steadfast as the friends of order, and as free from 
every taint of political severity, as the most genuine friends of freedom can desire. 

" There is only one case in which it is conceived that this partisanship of a christian 
minister is at all justifiable. Should the government of our country ever fall into the 
hands of an infidel or demi-infidel administration — should the men at the helm of 
affairs be the patrons of all that is unchristian in the sentiment and literature of the 
country — should they offer a violence to its religious [institutions] — and thus attempt 
what we honestly believe would reach a blow to the piety and the character of our 
population — then I trust, that the language of partisanship will resound from many of 
the pulpits of the land — and that it will be turned in one stream of pointed invective 
against such a [government] as this — till, by the force of public opinion, it be swept 
away as an intolerable nuisance, from the face of our [country."] 

Chalmers' Works, p. 345. 



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